BTC/USDT rallied yesterday, right after US inflation turned hotter than expected – at 6.4% instead of 6.2%, in line with a mini-rally in the S&P 500 index.
Theoretically, markets should have gone the other way, given how investors tend to be spooked by the prospect of inflation-busting interest rates from the central bank.
Perhaps the markets expected worse. Regardless, bitcoin ended the day nearly 2% higher at $22,200, causing nearly $56 million in short liquidations in the process.
BTC/USDT has since corrected back to USD 22,100 in this morning’s session.
Bitcoin (BTC) reacted positively to US inflation data – Source: currency.com
The bulls’ objective remains the same – get bitcoin back to the 23,000-24,000 comfort zone, by surpassing the resistance lines of $22,400 and $22,500.
It should be doable, but the question is how long will it take? Markets have shown stubborn resistance to bullish momentum ever since things cooled off after the rally in January, so patience will likely be required.
Ethereum joined the inflation rally with a 3.3% gain on the ETH/USDT pair to an intraday high of $1,570 before retreating below $1,550.
ETH bears appear to be in control this morning, with the one-hour chart chalking up red candlesticks as the day progresses.
Binance’s ETH/USDT order book shows some buying support at USD 1,500, or worst case USD 1,450, while resistance is pegged at USD 1,600.
Another Elon Musk rally
Musk rallies are a strange thing. The Tesla CEO and Twitter autocrat famously sent Dogecoin (DOGE) to the moon back in July 2020 after jokingly tweeting that the meme coin would outperform the global financial system.
Such is meme lord Musk’s influence over the crypto markets that even a wry nod to the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency can pump up the coin’s price in the market.
That’s exactly what happened after he recently spammed his Twitter feed with photos of his pet Shiba Floki, mocked as the new Twitter boss.
The new CEO of Twitter is amazing pic.twitter.com/yBqWFUDIQH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 15 February 2023
Undeniably sweet, and also a boon for DOGE holders, with the DOGE/USDT pair adding another 3% this morning, even as markets began to trend in the opposite direction.
The pair appears to have hit an intraday high of 0.088 and is beginning to reverse; Musk rallies tend to be as fickle as they are curious
Altcoins seen higher
The CoinDesk Market Index gained around 2.5% overnight, encouraged by a strong performance in Dogecoin, Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC) and Litecoin (LTC), all of which gained at least 5%.
Looking further down the board, Render Token (RNDR), The Graph (GRT), ImmutableX (IMX) and Oasis Network (ROSE) were among the most popular altcoins, all of which have added double-digit market caps.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalization managed to stay above USD 1tn after coming perilously close, and was seen at USD 1.03tn at the time of writing.
Total value locked across all decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols is currently $47.8 billion, having added 1.7% overnight.
